The glass-pool, air-cycle nuclear power plant of this invention is designed as an isolated system that requires minimal monitoring and is of a "walk-away" type, that is, one that can be shut down and decommissioned without any external intervention other then the poisoning of the nuclear reaction. In such event, the containment structure that contains the glass matrix pool and reaction core solidifies into a glass solid that can remain in place or be removed to a storage site.
Recent disasters and near disasters in the operation of existing nuclear power plants of large size have required a reevaluation of the technology of nuclear power plant design. Far greater attention has been placed on power plants that are considered "passively-safe," that is, which do not require the intervention of an operator during a nuclear crisis in order to return the plant to a safe operating condition. The expense and complexity of current and future designs of light water reactor plants have required the nuclear industry to rethink its nuclear energy goals and have generated renewed interest in smaller, modular type plants that operate without the use of water as a coolant or as a steam generating medium. Renewed interest in more inherently safe designs such as liquid sodium systems, including static designs that do not require sodium pumps, such as that proposed in my prior patent, entitled "Nuclear Power Plant With On-Site Storage Capabilities," U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,795, issued Feb. 2, 1982. In that patent there is disclosed a nuclear reactor power plant having a gas cycle that utilizes superheated steam in its superheated state throughout the cycle. The use of a gas cycle reactor avoids a motive substance that must undergo a phase change. The use of a substance that has a phase change between liquid and gas, can typically result in emergency conditions. For example, when quantities of water contact high temperature core material the explosive reaction releases large volumes of contaminated steam. This is the heart of the traditional disaster scenario.
Operating the reactor core in the very material that is to constitute its entombment on decommissioning, provides an attractive safety feature that other plants of advanced design appear to lack. This feature can provide a attractive solution to the problem of decommissioning and disposal of reactor cores.
The use of new reactor fuel sources utilizing thorium/uranium.sup.233 in encapsulated fuel pellets with neutron moderation and containment by graphite shells and casings, provides the basis for advanced designs of walk-away nuclear power plants that require little or no monitoring during the life of operation of the plants. By use of smaller modular systems that are standardized with lower power goals which do not include failure prone internal or external liquid circulation pumps, the goal of a passively-safe or a walk-away nuclear power plant can realistically be achieved.
One of the crucial problems facing the nuclear power industry in the United States is the fact that, all of the nuclear plants that have been constructed to date are different from one another. In addition to the huge capital cost, large scale, custom power plants cause difficulty in staffing and safe monitoring of plant operation. Furthermore, at the time of decommissioning, each plant must be considered as a separate entity for which a decommissioning plan must be devised that in many cases can result in decommissioning costs that exceed the original cost of construction.
With a lower ultimate power goal for each plant, the system design can be standardized. By simply multiplying the number of identical plants, any desired greater power capacity can be obtained. Given a substantial flexibility in power rating and design, small inexpensive plants under one megawatt can be placed in operation to test operating parameters over a larger number of units at minimal financial and safety risk. The glass-pool, aircycle, nuclear power plant described and claimed herein resolves many of the current problems in the design of a safe power plant that utilizes fissionable nuclear materials that will not adversely impact the environment during operation or after shut-down.